Kids go to classes in new schools

Fausto Cambi and his four-year-old daughter Kimberly arrived at P.S. 307 in Corona at 7:40 a.m. - almost an hour before her first day of kindergarten would begin. Kimberly clutched her dad’s arm before going into the new school building, which was welcoming its inaugural class of students on Tuesday, September 2.
“It’s nice, I went inside and it’s beautiful,” Fausto Cambi said, after taking a quick look inside the school’s lobby.
Nearly 1 million city public school students and 275,000 in Queens from preschool through high school traded in their summer swimsuits and beach toys for backpacks and schoolbooks on Tuesday for the start of the 2008-2009 school year.
Just last week P.S. 307 had a taller and more recognizable face roaming the halls as Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped open the new school building - one of seven new schools that opened in Queens and 18 throughout the city – that officially opened its doors to students on Tuesday.
The other Queens schools that opened were P.S. 303 in Forest Hills, P.S. 244 in Flushing, P.S. 305 in Ridgewood, P.S. 306 in Woodhaven, P.S. 4 in Long Island City and Elmhurst Education Campus in Elmhurst.
“Our schools are safer,” Bloomberg said Tuesday morning during a visit to P.S. 62 in the Bronx. “Our classrooms are less crowded. Parents and students enjoy far greater school choice.”
As some of those parents and kids walked inside P.S. 306 in Woodhaven, Principal Jennifer Flandro was hard at work in her office making sure things were set for today. Flandro believes the school will be a great fit for the community.
“We’re able to relieve some of the overcrowding,” Flandro said.
In Corona, Maribel Cabrera, who was waiting with her son Coby Pucha, 4, to help him start his first day at P.S. 307 - an elementary school with 996 seats, 30 general education classrooms and seven special education classrooms. This year, the school will have two preschool classes and seven kindergarten classes with additional grades added to the school after this year.
“I’m nervous, and he is too,” Cabrera said. “He’s my first one [child starting school] so this is new for me, but I’m doing OK.”
Cabrera was one of many moms and dads who lined up outside of P.S. 307, which features a 300-seat auditorium, a gymnasium, science labs, a multi-purpose room, a cafeteria with full-service kitchen, music and art rooms and a medical suite. It also has two playgrounds, a 6,000-square-foot playground for younger students and a 7,000-square-foot playground for older students, which fit in nicely with what five-year-old Erick Yupa had planned for his first day.
“I’m gonna play; I’m gonna have fun,” said the kindergarten student who was holding his dad Antonio’s hand waiting on line.
Other youngsters were ready for summer to end so they could get back to their new classrooms.
“I was home for a long time,” said five-year-old Davie Ramrattan, who was starting first grade at P.S. 306. “Now, I’m gonna read books about Hannah,” she said referring to pop culture star Hannah Montana.
Mohammad and Moqdas Iqbal had just finished walking the block to P.S. 307, but they had two reasons for coming to school this morning - their son Zayn, 5, and daughter Tuba, 4, were starting kindergarten and preschool, respectively.
“It’s a really nice school, that’s why we came here,” said Mohammad Iqbal, who had toured the school the week before his two kids were to start.
Ozone Park mother Melanie Rodriguez, whose three-year-old son started school at P.S. 307 was also excited that her son would get to attend a new school this year.
“It feels like a fresh start,” Rodriguez said. “He starts with new teachers. They seem very enthusiastic.”